A Guide to Seedsaving, Seedstewardship & Seed
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A Guide to Seed Saving, Seed Stewardship & Seed Sovereignty By The Seed Ambassadors Project 4th edition January 2010 Written By Sarah Kleeger and Andrew Still [email protected] 25079 Brush Creek Rd, Sweet Home, OR 97386 If you would like to tell us what you think about this ‘zine please do. We are always looking for input of wisdom and corrections. It would also be great to hear how you’ve put it to use. See www.seedambassadors.org for more information on The Seed Ambassadors Project. This work has been released to the public domain and is to be considered open source, open- pollinated or anti-copyright. As they say at the slingshot collective “feel free to borrow any of this, we did”. 2010 Keep a look out for the next updated edition! Thanks for reading and saving seeds. This work is hereby released into the Public Domain. To view a copy of the public domain dedication, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/publicdomain/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA. Seed Starting and Plant Propagation - Plants a Plenty. Catharine Osgood Foster. 1977. Rodale Press If SEED SAVING is collecting seeds for replanting in - The New Seed-Starters Handbook. Nancy Bubel. 1988. Rodale Press the future… - Seeds: The Ultimate Guide to Growing Successfully from Seed, Jekka McVicar. 2003. The Lyons Press Then SEED STEWARDSHIP is the process of saving seeds with the purpose of maintaining or improving Other Important Organic and Heirloom Gardening Books - Oriental Vegetables. Joy Larkcom. 1991. Kodansha International. that seed’s health and resilience. It also includes the act of saving and selecting a variety over a period of - Growing Organic Vegetables West of the Cascades. Steve Solomon. many seasons, with the end goal of passing it on to 2007. Sasquatch Books. others in the future. - How to Grow More Vegetables. John Jeavons. 7th edition, 2006. Ten Speed Press. The ideal of SEED SOVEREIGNTY firmly plants seed - Heirloom Vegetable Gardening. William Woys Weaver. 1997. Henry saving and seed stewardship in the realm of Holt and Company. fundamental human rights. It is the freedom to save - Perennial Vegetables. Eric Toensmeier. 2007. Chelsea Green seed and determine the foundation on which our food Publishing system rests. With the current attacks of industry hitting at the heart of food sovereignty, the simple act of seed saving becomes a major act of resistance and social empowerment. We would like to thank many people for their essential assistance, inspiration and guidance: Carol Deppe, Alan and Linda Kapuler, Tim Peters, Frank Morton, Harry MacCormack, Nick Routledge, Kayla Preece, Matthew Dillon, Micaela Colley, Taylor Zeigler, Tobias Policha, Nori Gordon, Lila Towle, Kate Lucas, Maria Nagy, all our seed growing friends, everyone we have met on our travels so far, the artists who created these amazing woodcuts and anyone who is excited about seed saving! Front cover: Celeriac (the tasty starchy root of the Celery plant) 38 Table 0’ Contents Read More! Seed Saving and Stewardship Why Save Seeds -- 1 ** Breed Your Own Vegetable Varieties. Carol Deppe. 2000. Chelsea Green. Fundamental Concepts -- 4 ** Seed To Seed: Seed Saving and Growing Techniques for Vegetable Seed Saving Tools -- 9 Gardeners. Suzanne Ashworth. 2002. Seed Savers Exchange. - Back Garden Seed Saving: Keeping Our Vegetable Heritage Alive. Sue Easy Seed Stickland. 2001. Eco-logic Books, England. Tomatoes (the gateway drug) -- 10 Beans & Peas -- 12 - The Wisdom of Plant Heritage: Organic Seed Production and Saving. Bryan Corn -- 14 Connolly and C.R. Lawn. 2004. Northeast Organic Farming Association. Cucumbers, Melons, & Squash -- 16 Herbs: Annual & Biennial -- 18 - Garden Seed Inventory. Sixth Edition. An Inventory of Seed Catalogs Listing Lettuce -- 20 All Non-Hybrid Vegetable Seeds Available in the United States and Canada. Joanne Thuente. 2004. Seed Savers Exchange. Peppers, Eggplant & friends -- 22 Spinach & Miscellaneous Greens -- 24 - Seeds of Kokopeli, Dominique Guillet. Availible from Kokopeli Seed Foundation. Less Easy Seed Cornucopia II: A Source Book of Edible Plants. Stephen Facciola. 1998. Biennial Roots: Beets, Chard, Carrots, -- 26 Kampong Publications. Onions, Leeks, Parsnips Brassicas: Broccoli, Kale, Cabbage, -- 28 Plant Breeding and Stewardship Turnips, Brussels Sprouts, Kohlrabi - Return to Resistance: Breeding Crops to Reduce Pesticide Dependence. Raoul A. Robinson. 1996. AgAccess. Guide to Jargon -- 30 - Principals of Plant Breeding, Allard, R.W., 1960, First edition, not the Read More -- 37 second edition. (Out of print, find it used online.) Seed Ethnobotany and Politics - Enduring Seeds: Native American Agriculture and Wild Plant Conservation. Gary Paul Nabhan. 1989. North Point Press. - Manifestos on the Future of Food and Seed, http://www.future-food.org - Shattering: Food, Politics, and the Loss of Genetic Diversity. Cary Fowler and Pat Mooney. 1990. University of Arizona Press. - Buffalo Bird Woman's Garden. Gilbert L. Wilson. 1987. Minnesota Historical Society Press. 37 known as a weed. Volunteers are usually garden plants that we like, though, as Welcome to The Seed Ambassadors opposed to grass or thistle or other things we don't want in the garden. They usually occur when a seed crop has been grown in the vicinity the previous year Project’s Guide to Saving Seeds and some of the seed shattered before being harvested. They are also common when fruit (such as a tomato) is allowed to fall off the plant and rot on the ground, We are a group of folks who have recognized that saving seeds is or in the compost pile when fruits such as winter squash have been composted. A the foundation of developing durable and resilient locally based volunteer is usually different than its parent, unless it is a heavily self-pollinating species. food systems. We encourage others to join us in this important work. In our eyes every seed saved is a socially healing, Wind-pollinated - A term used to describe plants whose pollen is distributed community creating event. through the wind. This includes beets chard, corn, spinach, and rye grain. Please See our website (www.seedambassadors.org) for an Winnow - To separate the seed from the chaff, usually using wind or a fan. extensive rundown of the Project and our adventures so far. We are not trained botanists, but have learned from our own experiments and experiences as well as from some of the best seed savers and plant breeders in the world, many of whom live right here in Oregon. This ‘zine is a small attempt to share this wealth. As Matthew Dillon of the Organic Seed Alliance says, “Seed Knowledge is eroding even faster than Seed Biodiversity”. Based near Crawfordsville, Oregon, we are organic farmers and gardeners, simultaneously acting as the seed stewards of over 1,000 varieties of food crops. We are lucky enough to live in the Pacific Northwest, where mild wet winters & dry summers provide one of the best climates for growing seed crops. We are in the process of growing out as much seed as we can manage in order to share locally and widely, at seed swaps, and through the Seed Savers Exchange Yearbook. Also check out for our commercial seed list at www.adaptiveseeds.com Why Save Seeds? We are losing diversity, biological and social, at an unprecedented rate. This erosion of diversity directly limits our ecological and social resilience and adaptability within this changing world. According to the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization, crop genetic resources are disappearing at the rate of 1 to 2 percent a year. About 75 percent of agricultural crop diversity is estimated to have been lost since the beginning of the last century. Saving seeds is a powerful way to counteract this problem and have 36 1 a profound effect on our future resilience and sustainability. We need the seed stalk of a plant when they are dried. Usually, a seed saver wants to genetic diversity in our gardens, farms and kitchens in order to recreate harvest and process the seed shortly before this occurs, lest they lose their seed. resilient healthy food systems and people. Species – A population of organisms capable of interbreeding in nature. Why can’t we trust seed companies to save seeds for us? It is not (Interbreeding refers to producing the normal number of fully fertile offspring.) simply an issue of bad germination and mixed up seeds. Most seed Stewardship - The mindful care of a place, plant, or anything else. For seed companies buy their seeds from giant seed corporations and just resell them. saving purposes, stewardship is the process by which an open-pollinated variety Every year they drop seed varieties, usually standby OP varieties or favorite is maintained or improved through the careful selection of plants from which to heirlooms. More money per seed can be charged for hybrids. This switch is save seed. understandable because companies exist to make money. So, if you find a great rare variety in a catalog, buy it and save it before it is lost. Stock Seed – A special selection of seed that is prime quality and has had extra effort selecting it for the traits desired. Usually used by seed companies as the seed sent to the big seed growers to increase to giant quantities for sale. Our In 2008 with the acquisition of yet another seed company, De Ruiter, the stewardship goal, on a non-industrial scale, is to make all the seed we save stock Chemical & GMO Giant Monsanto now controls an estimated 85 % of seed quality. the US fresh tomato seed market. The majority of commercially available seed varieties are controlled by the company. While most of the varieties Stratification – The process some seeds must go through for successful sold by Monsanto are not GMOs and GMO seed is not generally available germination, in which the seed is kept cold and sometimes damp for a period of time before sowing.